Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

gatesnotes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

691–700 of 704 posts

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#691

Post by haarolean »

altruios wrote: post #300
haarolean wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to take him seriously or consider him a good guy. While advocating for the environment, he doesn't hesitate to short tesla, an EV company (questionable nature aside). There are two possible reasons for this (the 'why' remains -- not enough money?): - He's admitting he doesn't care about the environmental mission, just the returns - He thinks tesla is a fraud, but isn't saying it publicly Either way, it's su…

Well it seems obvious why anyone would (and morally should) short tesla... but let me break it down for those in the bleachers with two facts. Musk 1: behind the presidential podium during the inauguration with the country watching twice did a salute of the enemy of the American people in WW2. And 2: controls the vast majority of tesla shares and is their current CEO. It is patriotic to short tesla. And Bill Gates cl…

Sure, but the shorting happened in 2022, when Musk wasn't clowning nearly as hard as now. Unless Gates has a time machine, this argument doesn't really stick.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#692

Post by modo_mario »

DavidSJ wrote: post #419
modo_mario wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He said he would do it over 5 years. MSFT was up roughly 2x not 18x

However long he took, he has ~70% less wealth than he would have had if he didn't do it. If it took him longer, that only means he gave the wealth after it had more time to appreciate.

How? Why do you take him at face value?

You confidently gave an explanation earlier that was hogwash.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#693

Post by tomhow »

staticman2 wrote: post #346
haarolean wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to take him seriously or consider him a good guy. While advocating for the environment, he doesn't hesitate to short tesla, an EV company (questionable nature aside). There are two possible reasons for this (the 'why' remains -- not enough money?): - He's admitting he doesn't care about the environmental mission, just the returns - He thinks tesla is a fraud, but isn't saying it publicly Either way, it's su…

[flagged]

Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#694

Post by cdkmoose »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #553
calepayson wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an AI skeptic when it comes to business cases. I think AI is great at getting to average and the whole point of a business is that you're paying them to do better than average. But I think current AI (not where it might be in a few months or years) is absolutely amazing for disadvantaged people. Access to someone who's average is so freaking cool if you don't already have it. Used correctly it's a free math tutor…

> The whole point of a business is that you're paying them to do better than average. ...this is a really interesting idea, but I'm not sure if it's entirely true? If we're talking about a business's core competency, I think the assertion makes sense. You need to be better than your competition. But businesses also need a whole lot of people to work in human resources, file taxes, and so on. (Not to mention clean bat…

Right up until those below average HR people break the law or allow managers to break the law and the company gets in trouble and no scientists or other R&D people want to work there.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#697

Post by DavidSJ »

willvarfar wrote: post #65
DavidSJ wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MSFT is up 18x during that time and the S&P 500 is up 5x during that time. His investments are some mixture of MSFT and other things, so we might say he would have been up around 10x if he'd given no money away. Since his net worth is only up 3x, that means he gave away about 70% of his wealth.

He won't have given away 70% of his wealth. If he gave away a dollar at the beginning that is 10 dollars that dollar didn't turn into etc.

First giving away X% and then getting a Y% return on investment has exactly the same effect on his wealth as first getting a Y% return and then giving away X%.

So to determine X, we can just ask how much money he’d have now had he not given any away, and it looks like he has about 70% less than that.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#698

Post by kcatskcolbdi »

rswail wrote: post #688
kcatskcolbdi wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, the gut biome! Dang, I thought it was magic spirits that caused the benefit of nutrition. Thanks Mr Gates for explaining to everyone that it was the gut's micro biome!

OK, now you're being deliberately obtuse. The impact of the type and capacity of the gut biome is relatively new research. The impact of having caeserian delivery on an infant's initial gut biome is relatively new knowledge, which is leading to changes in healthcare delivery for child health. Maintaining good gut biome health is also still being researched, as well as what actually is a good gut biome. Whether it is…

Fascinating that in this you don't source a single bit of the incredible research around microbiomes the Gates Foundation is conducting.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#699

Post by Blankono »

codr7 wrote: post #689
Blankono wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think at all he is a greedy asshole. He did more good than anywone else on the planet at this point. Alone his money and the pledge he pused is breathaking. Why would you say he is a greedy asshole while he spends all his money to help humans? Trump is greedy. Musk thinks probably he is good but is greedy as f and wants to go to mars because he thinks earth cant be saved anymore. But Gates?

I don't need you to repeat the propaganda, I know what the official narrative is. And it's mostly lies, especially the part about Gates suddenly turning from asshole to saint.

[flagged]

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#700

Post by Blankono »

codr7 wrote: post #689
Blankono wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think at all he is a greedy asshole. He did more good than anywone else on the planet at this point. Alone his money and the pledge he pused is breathaking. Why would you say he is a greedy asshole while he spends all his money to help humans? Trump is greedy. Musk thinks probably he is good but is greedy as f and wants to go to mars because he thinks earth cant be saved anymore. But Gates?

I don't need you to repeat the propaganda, I know what the official narrative is. And it's mostly lies, especially the part about Gates suddenly turning from asshole to saint.

Interesting. I would not have thought, that on hn a normal discussion with arguments and sources is not possible. But hey you seem to pref to comment for the comment sake not for discussion.
Post reply on HN